As a full-service, third-party logistics provider, Hall’s Warehouse Corp. offers the services that East Coast food and pharmaceutical companies require: temperature-controlled transportation and time-sensitive deliveries from its 75-unit fleet, as well as more than 54.9 million cubic feet of frozen, refrigerated and dry storage. Hall’s is organic certified by the USDA, U.S. Customs bonded and has a superior rating from the American Institute of Baking. But where it really is making a mark in the industry is in its ability to help customers reduce their carbon footprints, while also keeping its own costs in line.

Since 1965, the Jayne family has been the owner and operator of Hall’s, which was founded as a transportation company. To fulfill its expanding customer needs, Hall’s later added temperature-controlled warehousing services. Hall’s now operates three divisions: Hall’s Warehouse Corp., Hall’s Logistics Group and Hall’s Fast Motor Freight Inc. Its mission is to provide superior logistical services in a manner that meets or exceeds its clients’ needs while enhancing its competitive position in the market. One of the main ways it has remained competitive is by utilizing green initiatives.

“We’re in an area with some of the highest labor rates in the country, the highest energy rates and additionally have to deal with high fuel costs like everyone else,” explains Wes Jayne, sales and marketing coordinator. “We had to find a way to curb and sustain our operating costs.”

In 2007, Hall’s started on its environmentally sustainable, push and today its operation includes:

Solar panels – Hall’s New Jersey headquarters is one of the largest privately owned rooftop-mounted solar installations in New Jersey.

SmartWay Program – This is a collaboration between the U.S. EPA and the freight industry to increase energy efficiency while reducing greenhouse gases and air pollution.

Warehouse lighting – The T-5 fluorescent lighting system is motion-sensor equipped and has shown a 50 percent reduction in energy consumption compared to a traditional system.

New dock shelters – Hall’s Rite-Hite Combo Shelter II combines the impartibility of a dock seal with the full access of a dock shelter, providing increased efficiency for separating the warehouse environment from the outdoors and enabling improved temperature consistency.

“This is a very energy-intensive business,” Jayne explains. “We consume 100 percent of what we produce with the solar panels, and our main campus is 24 percent sustained with the solar power. We are looking into increasing that to 40 percent, however.” Another facility is 75 percent sustained with solar power, he notes.

‘Adapt at the Forefront’

Hall’s estimates that its savings from solar energy is equal to the annual greenhouse gas emissions from 421 passenger vehicles or the carbon dioxide emissions from 260,854 gallons of gasoline. The company has a firm commitment to fulfill New Jersey’s Energy Master Plan that calls for 30 percent of the state’s electricity to come from renewable sources by 2020. But not only do Hall’s efforts have extensive environmental benefits, they also have a big impact on reducing its operating costs.

“This has really helped to stabilize our operating costs and keeps us competitive in the marketplace,” Jayne explains. “We’re in a deregulated market, so electricity costs are high. It’s always a numbers game.”

He notes that Hall’s is one of the initial companies involved in the EPA SmartWay program, and it’s made several changes to ensure its fleet is operating as efficiently as possible.

“We have perforated mud flaps to reduce drag, tested super single wide tires, and we’re complying with the idler regulations,” he says. “We have bunk heaters that only burn one gallon of diesel fuel every 24 hours. We have tracked every part of the implementation we’ve completed for SmartWay, and our fuel efficiency is up 2.3 miles per gallon so far.”

Hall’s also has looked into the implementation of LED lighting for its freezers because these system went down substantially in cost, from $1500 per fixture five years ago to $400 per fixture today. Potential return on investment for Hall’s would be in less than a year due to the high energy costs of electricity. “In the freezer, you have to be careful of a light’s heat and energy output; the benefit of LED is that the fixtures have an instant on/off and limit the heat displacement in the cold environment.”

Jayne stresses that Hall’s commitment to improving its operational effectiveness will be ongoing, and environmental sustainability will continue to be the main way in which it achieves it.

“We have a vision to adapt at the forefront,” he says. “We are the leader in our industry in green technology – no one else took the initiatives to make the investments that we did when we started this. We are lucky to be in a market that allowed us to use those resources. But also, we’re family owned, and we’re not afraid to take risks. We have a commitment to always be improving.”